Curried Rice Vegan Buddha Bowl

This vegan Buddha bowl is built on a base of fragrant curried rice and chickpeas and topped off with coconut-glazed sweet potato, fresh juicy mango, creamy avocado and a simple cilantro dressing. This curried rice vegan Buddha bowl is an explosion of flavours, simple to put together and a great make-ahead meal prep recipe.

I’ve been wanting to build a bowl around this curried rice recipe for a long time now. Let me tell you, this rice is sooooo good! It’s one of those things where you can’t believe that so much flavour can come out of such simple ingredients, but they all work together so perfectly to produce the most fragrant and delicious rice ever.

Most of the other vegan Buddha bowls I’ve created centre around some particular cuisine and the flavours and ingredients that are often found together. For example, this Thai Buddha bowl and this forbidden rice Buddha bowl. This curried rice Buddha bowl leans towards a south Indian inspired concept with the curry, mango, cilantro and coconut working together in perfect harmony.

I’ve kept everything super simple and easy to prepare. The rice is as simple as throw everything into a pot and let it gently simmer till tender. In the meantime, chop your fruits and veggies and prepare a coconut glaze for the sweet potatoes by simply reducing some coconut milk until thick. Finally, blend together a bunch of cilantro and dairy-free yogurt for a simple yet tasty sauce.

Although I prefer to make some kind of sauce to serve with my Buddha bowls, to be honest I’d say that the cilantro sauce for this bowl is optional. All the other elements of this curried rice vegan Buddha bowl are so juicy and flavourful that you could omit the sauce and still be satisfied.

As I mentioned previously, this is a great recipe to make if you’re the type who meal preps on Sundays. The rice keeps well in an air-tight container for a couple of days and all the veggies minus the avocado can be prepped in advance as well. Pack it all into 4 containers to take to work throughout the week or to have dinner ready for when you get home.

You’re sure to love the fresh flavours of this vegan Buddha bowl and will want to make it again and again!

Optional garnish: a few sprigs of cilantro and a thinly sliced green onion

Instructions

1

Combine the stock, curry powder, turmeric, ½ teaspoon of the salt and raisins in a pot and bring to a boil. Add the rice, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook for the time indicated on the rice package – usually about 15 minutes. Uncover and stir in the chickpeas and green onion.

2

Meanwhile, cook the sweet potato however you like (boil, steam, roast, etc.) and make the coconut glaze by simmering the coconut milk, the zest and juice of half of the lime and the maple syrup until reduced by half and it has thickened enough to coat the spoon – about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly to thicken even more then toss in the cooked sweet potato and stir to coat.

3

Make the cilantro sauce by blending the cilantro, garlic, yogurt, remaining juice of the lime and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt in a small food processor until smooth.

4

To serve divide the rice between 4 bowls and top with the coconut sweet potato, mango, avocado, radish and a dollop of cilantro sauce. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro and/or a thinly sliced green onion (optional).

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